This article will show you how to create a Flip3D icon on the Windows 7 taskbar:

1. Right click on the Desktop and select New and then Shortcut.
2. Type in RunDll32 DwmApi #105 in the location box and click Next.
   
3. Type in Flip3D as the Name and click Finish.
4. You will now have an shortcut on the desktop that will launch Flip3D but it has the wrong icon. Right click on the Flip3D shortcut and select Properties.
   
5. On the Shortcut tab click the Change Icon button. 
6. Change the Look for icons in this file text box to C:\windows\explorer.exe and it Enter.  The Flip3D icon will now be available. Select it and click OK.
   
7. Click OK to close out the shortcut properties window.
8. Finally, just drag and drop the new shortcut on the Windows 7 taskbar to pin it.

If you have ever used WIndows Live Messenger on Windows 7, you’ll see that whenever you minimise the window,  It never dissappers. =[.

To change this is easy!

Find Windows Live Messenger in the Start Menu,  Right Click it and go Properties.

Than go Compatilbity (tab) and in the drop down blox choose Windows Vista (service Pack 2)

Now Windows Live Messenger shows up in the Tary,  not the taskbar!

Go Start -> All Programs -> Acsessory’s -> (Right Click) Windows Explorer

And in The Target Textbox Change the text to:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Here’s a good example of the problem… almost all of the folders under my picture library are showing the Windows Media Player icon. How does that even happen? Sometimes they start showing the right image, but then they’ll randomly revert back, and forget about using one of the other views.

The problem is that all of the preview thumbnail images used in the icons are stored in a cache file, which sometimes goes all wacky and gets corrupted, and requires some cleanup.

Fix the Problem with Disk Cleanup

To fix the problem, simply open up Disk Cleanup by typing “disk cleanup” into the start menu search, or find it under the accessories area. You can run a full disk cleanup if you want, but if you just want to quickly fix the problem, scroll down until you see Thumbnails and make sure that one is checked.

You’ll want to click the “Clean up system files” button, wait for it to finish, and then probably log off and back on.

Everything should be looking good now. Did it solve the problem for you?

Note that all the screenshots are from Windows 7, but we’ve used the same technique on Windows Vista as well.

Double click the CSMenu exe file to get things started. The install process for CSMenu is quick and straightforward.

After finishing the installation, you will see a message window that will say that CSMenu is going to index your Start Menu. While it is indexing, you will see the following window showing the progress of the indexing process.

Once it has finished indexing, you will need to log off and then log back into your User Account.

After logging back in, go into the Start Menu to locate the CSMenu folder. Right click on the “Show CSMenu” shortcut and select “Pin to Taskbar”. Once you do that, there is your new Classic Menu Start Button right next to the original one (you made need to move it to the left in your taskbar).

Notice that the CSMenu Start Menu button is slightly smaller than the original.

An expanded view of the new Classic Menu in our Windows 7 example.

Hiding the Original Windows 7 Start Button

If you decide that you only want to have your new Classic Menu Start Button display, you can hide the original with a nice little program called Start Killer.

Run the Start Killer exe file and let the program automatically start after the installation is finished. Just one start button to deal with now (nice!).

To make certain that Start Killer runs every time you start Windows, right click on the taskbar icon and select “Settings”. Make certain that “Load on system startup” is selected.

A quick check on startup programs using CCleaner shows the everything is set to have nothing but Classic Menu goodness each time you start Windows 7.

Have fun with your new Classic Start Menu!

Links

Download CSMenu (version 0.9)

Download Start Killer (version 3.0)

So What Is It?

The conhost.exe process fixes a fundamental problem in the way previous versions of Windows handled console windows, which broke drag & drop in Vista.

It’s a completely legitimate executable—as long as it’s running from the system32 folder, and is signed by Microsoft. Scanning your computer for viruses is never a bad idea, though.

Wait, What? So Why Do I Need It?

Oh, you wanted more information? I suppose I can oblige with some background information. Essentially, there’s a problem with the way the console process works on previous versions of Windows—they are all hosted under the csrss.exe (Client Server Runtime Process) service. This process runs as a system-privileged account.

If you take a look at the command prompt on Windows XP, you’ll probably notice that the window doesn’t use the active theme at all. This is because the CSRSS process doesn’t have the ability to be themed.

If you take a look at the console in Windows Vista, it looks like it uses the same theme as everything else, but you’ll notice that the scrollbars are still using the old style (look closely). This is because the DWM (Desktop Window Manager) process handles drawing the title bars, but underneath it still works the same way, and the scrollbars are part of the window itself.

You might also notice that Windows Vista broke the ability to drag and drop files from Explorer straight into the command prompt. It just flat out doesn’t work, because of security issues between the CSRSS process running with a higher level of privileges.

Windows 7 Does It Differently

Checking it out in Process Explorer under Windows 7 shows that the conhost.exe process is running underneath the csrss.exe process.

The conhost.exe process sitting in the middle between CSRSS and cmd.exe allows Windows 7 to fix both of the problems in previous versions of Windows—not only do the scrollbars draw correctly, but you can actually drag and drop a file from Explorer straight into the command prompt:

And it’ll paste in the path onto the command line. (of course this example isn’t very useful).

Still Aren’t Convinced?

I can see our relationship has some trust issues. If you really want to be sure, check out the file properties for the conhost.exe executable, and you’ll see that the description says Console Window Host:

If you look at the details of the process from within Process Explorer, you’ll notice that the ComSpec is set to cmd.exe, a clear indication that it’s hosting the command prompt.

So now you know what the conhost.exe process does, and why you should never attempt to delete it. Ever.

1. Right-click on any open area of the taskbar and choose Properties from the menu.

2. From the Taskbar buttons drop-down menu, you’ll want to choose “Never combine”,

3.  Now check Use Small Icons

Than Unpin all pinned items bu Right Clicking the Icon -> Unpin From Taskbar

And Now You Have Windows XP Taskbar in Windows 7.  Retro!

1. Turn Off ClearType.

Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Advance.  Than Under Multimedia uncheck Always Use ClearType for HTML*

2. Turn Off SmartScreen Filter

Go To Safety -> SmartScreen Filter -> Turn Off SmartScreen Filter…

3. Stop Automatic Feed Downloading

Go Tools -> Internet Options -> Content -> Options (under Feeds) -> And Uncheck Autiomaticlly check for feeds…..

4. Stop the SSVhelper Ad on

Go Tools -> Manage Add-ons -> Scroll Down Till you see SSVHelper and Disable it

5. Changing MaxConnectionsPerServer MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server

WARNING, EDITING THE REGESTRY CAN CAUSE WINDOWS TO MALFUNCTION.  ALWAYS BACKUP THE KEYS YOU ARE ABOUT TO EDIT.

1. Open Up Regedit Start->Type “regedit” and press shift+enter

2. Browse to the following directory: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\

3a. If you see MaxConnectionsPerServer and MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server in the right pane, Edit them and select the decimal amount to 6.  And you are done!

3b. If you do not see MaxConnectionsPerServer and  MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server you have to create them.  Right Click the right pane and select DWORD, name it MaxConnectionsPerServer.  Than Click the Decimal radio button and set the value to 6.  Repeat this step, except use MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server as the name.

6. Turn Off FlowControl.

Go Start -> (Right Click)Computer -> Properties -> Device Manager -> Network Adapter -> Double click your current network adapter.

Click Advance -> Find FlowControl,  And Disable It

And Your Done!